Slides in this set

Slide 1

Trephining was the process of drilling inNatural treatments were used in people's heads to remove any evil spirits.Prehistoric times. Mud would have been However, this would always have led to death.used to cure broken bones, herbs and We can still see a hole in skulls which are foundplants would also be used. Not just natural in historic sites.treatments, there were signs ofsupernatural treatments. Chants were said Prehistoric people believed in spirits as wellto drive away evil spirits, and Trephining because they used cave paintings to show animals or a spirit-being.was also used. Prehistoric MedicineAustralian aborigines in recent times were Some of their burial practices suggest thatable to stitch up wounds and to set broken knew something about the bone structure.bones by encasing them in mud. Some Also, archaeologists have found evidence ofhistorians suggest that this shows that cannibalism amongst some prehistoricprehistoric people could have acquired people. So, they knew something about thesimilar skills. The presence of healed but flesh and the inner organs of the body.badly set bones in prehistoric graves,however, suggests that perhaps they hadnot.…read more

Slide 2

Having observed the damage done to The Egyptians invented the skills of writing farmers fields, when an irrigation channel and calculation. Egyptian doctors would became blocked, the Egyptians developed write down treatments and diseases on the idea that disease occurred when an evil papyrus which would develop their ideas, spirit blocked one of the body's channels. and furthermore, would be traded This led doctors to abandon supernatural internationally. treatments and to try natural treatments. Egyptian MedicineEgyptians observed the stars, the seasons Many of their cures were based on whatand the behaviour of the River Nile. Most historians call the 'Channel Theory'. They thought that they could unblock theimportantly, they carefully observed the 'channels' of the body by making peoplestate of the irrigation channels that vomit, or bleed, or empty their bowels,watered their crops. Priests/doctors and that this would cure sickness.observed the internal organs of the bodyduring mummification. The Egyptians didn't use cleanliness to ward off disease, however, but instead appealed to their gods, using charms, amulets and spells. They didn't have a public health system in the modern sense of state-organised sewers, public hygiene or medical care.…read more

Slide 3

Greek doctors at Alexandria in Egypt began As Hippocrates had built on Egyptian ideas,to dissect bodies. Some even dissected the so later Greeks built on the ideas ofbodies of criminals who were still alive. In Hippocrates. Succeeding generations ofthis way surgeons realised that the brain, not Greek doctors learned to observe humanthe heart, controls the movement of the anatomy, wrote down their findings, andlimbs, and they also discovered that the took their knowledge all over the knownblood moves through the veins. world. Greek MedicineHippocrates accepted that ordinary people would be Based on the theory that naturaltoo busy or too poor to follow such a regime, and matter comprised four basicwould therefore be less healthy. elements, the GreekWhile medicine was still in its early stages, people philosophers came up with thecontinued to appeal to the gods for healing at the idea that the human bodyAsclepion. As time went on, however, these places consisted of the four humours,also became health resorts, with facilities such as a which had to be kept in balance.gymnasium, an athletics stadium and baths. This theory survived until after AD 1700.…read more

Slide 4

The Romans invented the first ever Public Galen was the main medicine man inHealth System. They were great builders, Roman times. He used to dissect animalsand their amazing constructions were to further his knowledge. He studied theaqueducts, baths, sewers and hospitals. heart, the lungs, the muscles, the bloodRome had 9 aqueducts which carried fresh and the nervous system. Galen acceptedand clean water to many places everyday. Hippocrates' theory of the Four Humours, but the Romans rejected Greek ideas and the knowledge did not progress. Roman MedicineWe have no evidence that Roman surgeons Some Roman doctors maintained theoperated successfully on patients. But we do Greek practice of clinical observation ofknow that Roman doctors did not have people who were sick, and Galen claimedanaesthetics, and only had herbal antiseptics he never made a mistake in diagnosis. The­ so surgical operations were difficult for Romans did however, have a large numberthem to perform. of practical remedies for diseases. GalenThe Roman Public Health System consisted of made the Theory of the Opposites which,the following: Aqueducts, Reservoirs, Public he got the idea from the Four HumoursLatrines, Public Baths, Private Homes and the Theory.Sewers.…read more

Slide 5

Knowledge was hard to come by in The Church said that Galen's ideas were soMedieval times, especially during the Dark correct that there was no need toAges when barbarian tribes roamed investigate any further.western Europe. The knowledge gained by Generally, the Church forbade thethe ancient Greeks and Romans was dissection of human bodies, so knowledgelargely lost to Europeans, and superstition was hard to come by - and ignorance led toreigned - although learning was more numerous errors and misunderstandingsadvanced in the Muslim Middle East. on the part of Medieval doctors. Medieval MedicineDuring the Middle Ages, surgery was left to barber-surgeons, not to trained doctors. Medieval surgeons During the time of the plague manyrealised how to use wine as an antiseptic and they towns developed quarantine laws,used natural substances as anaesthetics. However, and boarded up the houses ofthey had no idea that dirt carried disease. Trephining infected people. People with leprosy,was also used in surgery. Medieval towns and public likewise, were confined to Lazarplaces may not have been clean by modern houses (a place for people withstandards, but Medieval people understood the infectious diseases). Medieval kingsconnection between clean living and good health. passed laws requiring people to keepOccasionally, they even took a bath. the streets clean.…read more

Slide 6

Andrew Vesalius trained at Padua William Harvey discovered the principle of the circulation of blood around the body. Heuniversity and ransacked cemeteries for became doctor to James I and Charles I ofbones and bodies to dissect. He discovered England. He calculated it was possible for bloodthe spermatic vessels. He also contradicted to be burned up in the muscles. He publishedGalen regarding his conclusions about the 'Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heartjaw bones. He became professor of and Blood' which proved the principle of themedicine at Padua University. He said circulation of the blood. This book marked themedical students should be dissecting for end of Galen's influence on Anatomy.themselves. He published 'Fabric of theHuman Body'. Renaissance MedicineAmbroise Pare changed people's decisions Rats, lice and fleas were a part of people'sabout surgery. He spent 20 years as a everyday lives in Early Modern times, sobarber surgeon. He used to cauterise the the need for public health measures waswound of his patients with Cautery Oil. great - but it took the plague of 1665 to getWhen it ran out, he used yolks and rose oil the authorities moving.to sooth the wounds. This remedy worked Houses were made of wood, mud andbetter. He used ligatures to tie arteries horse dung. Rats, lice and fleas flourishedduring amputations instead of cauterising in the rushes that people strewed on thethe wound. He published 'Apology and clay floors of their houses.Treatise'.…read more